A MATTER OF TRUST

“Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,
    inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts
    and on the horns of their altars.
² Even their children remember
    their altars and Asherah poles^[a]
beside the spreading trees
    and on the high hills.
³ My mountain in the land
    and your^[b] wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,
    together with your high places,
    because of sin throughout your country.
⁴ Through your own fault you will lose
    the inheritance I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies
    in a land you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
    and it will burn forever.”

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things
    and beyond cure.
    Who can understand it?

¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart
    and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
    according to what their deeds deserve.”

¹¹ Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
    are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,
    and in the end they will prove to be fools.

¹² A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
    is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³ Lord, you are the hope of Israel;
    all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
    because they have forsaken the Lord,
    the spring of living water.

¹⁴ Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
    save me and I will be saved,
    for you are the one I praise.
¹⁵ They keep saying to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it now be fulfilled!”
¹⁶ I have not run away from being your shepherd;
    you know I have not desired the day of despair.
    What passes my lips is open before you.
¹⁷ Do not be a terror to me;
    you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
¹⁸ Let my persecutors be put to shame,
    but keep me from shame;
let them be terrified,
    but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
    destroy them with double destruction.